This season, Southington is 9-0 after defeating Simsbury 67-19 Monday night and in that familiar No. 1 spot after the first two weeks of the poll. For the second week in a row, the Blue Knights were an overwhelming choice of the coaches, getting eight of the 12 first-place votes.

The play of seniors Jennifer Gombotz and Colleen Klopp has drawn notice around the state.

Gombotz, a 6-foot forward/center who will attend Providence College, is averaging double figures in points (23) and rebounds (10). Her best game thus far: 29 points, 12 rebounds, seven steals and six blocked shots in a 78-40 victory over Cheshire Dec. 21.

Klopp, a 5-9 guard who will attend Quinnipiac, is averaging 18- plus points, shooting 53 percent from the field and making 90 percent of her free throws.

``Colleen has been doing her usual consistent job, handling the ball, making good decisions and playing good defense,'' coach Joe Daddio said. ``Jen can drive inside for layups because she's so strong or hit the three-pointer from the outside.''

How dominant can Gombotz and Klopp be?

Against New Britain Thursday night, a 53-33 victory, New Britain took a 15-3 lead in the second quarter. ``Jen just took over and scored 15 [of her 26] points in the second quarter. Colleen had two in the first half and 17 in the second. It's so hard to shut them both down.''

Because Daddio rotates eight players, the Blue Knights' defense usually gets the best of its opponents.

``We're usually fresh, and our offense feeds off our defense,'' he said.

``I know we don't have the size we've had the past few years,'' Daddio said. ``But these kids make up for it with a little more quickness and their defensive play.''

So far, things have gone according to plan, said Daddio, whose teams are 7-4 in state title games and finished atop The Courant poll in 1992 and '93.

``I knew we'd have pretty good games against Northwest Catholic, Shelton and New Britain, and we did,'' Daddio said. ``We have [No. 3] Bristol Eastern over there Thursday night, and that will be a good test for us, because they're a lot like us. They have a great player in Ernestine Austin [a transfer from Bristol Central], and [coach] Tony Floyd prepares his kids well. They like to press and run, just like us.''

Fast breaks

South Windsor's Cristi Carbone is closing on the school's girls scoring record. Carbone,a 5-10 senior center, is 14 points shy of tying Tracy (Fidler) Olander's record of 1,193 set in 1979. Carbone, who is averaging 19 points, has made an oral commitment to attend St. Peter's University in Jersey City, N.J. South Windsor (7-3, 4-0 CCC East) hosts East Hartford (4-3, 2-1) tonight at 7 p.m. East Hartford is led by 5-9 sophomore Elisha DeJesus, who leads the CCC East with a 22.5 average. . . . Second-ranked Norwich Free Academy (8-0) played only one game last week -- a 58-42 victory over Killingly Tuesday night. The Wildcats' boys and girls games against Fitch-Groton Friday were postponed as the NFA student body mourned the death of NFA senior Samantha Deglin. Samantha and her brother, Randy, 11, were struck and killed by a car Thursday night. Both games were rescheduled for Wednesday, the girls at Fitch; the boys at home. . . . Tourtellotte Memorial-Thompson ended Griswold's 40-game QVC winning streak with a 38-37 victory Jan. 7. It was the first QVC regular season/tournament defeat for Griswold since a loss to Plainfield in February 1994. Courtney Hibbard's free throw with 3 seconds left won it for Tourtellotte.